Match stats:

Matthew James
Steve Boydell
Richard Boydell
Matthew James
Richard Boydell

So into the second league game of the Vader’s campaign and a 5-4 win away from home made the bank holiday Sunday worth getting out of bed for.

Playing in Coychurch in blustery conditions Bridgend Puma’s played typical Sunday league football and launched the ball downfield every time they had the ball. The Vader’s lined up 4-5-1 with coach Steve Boydell heading the 1 man attack with Titch and Richie Boydell tucking in close behind in support.

The Vader’s came out all guns blazing and looking to build on last week’s passing along the floor which worked nicely and both Richie Boydell and Lee Isaacs linked up to give each other opportunities in front of goal early on. The Puma’s keeper though had his eye on a clean sheet and kept out both shots.

Around 15 minutes in and again, against the run of play the Puma’s took advantage of the slight downhill, the wind and the bounce on the firm field to put themselves 1 goal in front.

Immediately the Vader’s responding through Titch who shot from the edge of the box to tuck the ball right in the bottom left hand corner.

The Vader’s continued to run the game with Hambone playing box to box and keeping the tackles going.

Around 10 minutes before half time the Puma’s took advantage once more of a defensive error and put themselves 2-1 up leaving a sour taste going into half time.

The second half was always going to be difficult for the Puma’s as they were playing uphill, and with the wind at their backs the Vader’s took to the field with more goals in mind.

Straight from the second half kickoff the Vader’s used the downhill to their advantage and the Puma’s looked like they had done all their running in the first half and were blowing out of their backsides. The Vader’s immediately made it 2 a piece with a nice break turning into a cross field ball for Steve Boydell to take the tap in with ease, lucky really as he’d missed 3 sitters before hand and anything more taxing might have gone wide 🙂 (That’s right Steve, not even you can escape the criticism)

The Vader’s still playing all the football were unlucky once more to find themselves 3-2 down and it looked like this just wasn’t meant to be. Within minutes Rich Boydell made a little break with the help of Lee Isaac and Hambone the human wrecking ball and hit a screamer from around 20 yards out only for it to hit the back of the net before the keeper even saw it coming.

Happy with a draw but still looking for more the Vader’s were shocked when the Puma’s made it 4-3 with only 10 minutes to go.

The match definitely looked over but the Vader’s didn’t give in that easily and a break from the kickoff saw Lee Issac taken out just outside the penalty area and the freekick from that went past everyone in the box. After Rob Boydell put the ball back over a bit too long it landed perfectly for Rich Boydell to pass to Titch and for the ball to find the net for the eighth time in the match 4-4 seemed a fair score but two minutes later and with only a minute left on the clock Rich Boydell broke free of the Puma’s defence and hit a curler from 35-40 yds out over the keeper and clinched the 3 points for the Vader’s – Happy Days!!

Man of the Match: Lee Isaac
Quote of the Day: Someone remind me